Hurt for Hartpury’s play-off hopes
By Luke Jarmyn & James Orpin, at Butts Park Arena
BACK-to-back defeats for the first time this season has given Hartpury RFC an unfortunate dent in their playoff hopes after the men in red lost away at Coventry on Saturday.
For two weeks in a row Mark Cornwell’s team had their moments but ultimately have come away without even a try or losing bonus point, and headed back down the M5 empty-handed as poor discipline undid an otherwise strong performance.
Before kick-off the Butts Park Arena was a near-perfect picture of winter rugby; dry, not too cold and very little wind on the artificial pitch at Coventry. Perfect opportunity for fourth positioned Hartpury to get back to winning ways against the side one place below them in the Champ.
Hartpury talisman Harry Bazalgette kicked off away from the railway end and the Gloucestershire boys started brilliantly, receiving the ball straight back and gaining ground with promising attacking play, even making a half break before the ball went to the floor after forcing the offload.
The fast start was undone by giving the home side an easy exit out of the top right corner and conceding a cheap penalty. Coventry threatened over the next few minutes with a line break down their right wing but a knock-on a few phases later halted the home-side.
An ensuing Hartpury scrum put-in wasn’t handled well, and after giving away another penalty Coventry kicked to the left corner. The ensuing line-out was halted by the visitors but a quick-tap restart saw second-rower Senitiki Nayalo power over for the game’s opening try on the eighth minute.
Our boys got back in the game as they put pressure on Coventry’s defence with a brilliant driving maul in the bottom right corner and flanker Harry Short broke off to dive over by the sticks towards the sticks on his 101st game in red.
Bazalgette’s successful conversion made it 7-7 by the quarter-hour mark.
Driving mauls seemed to be the theme of the day as Coventry scored with another of their own on the 19th minute to go back ahead; captain Jordan Poole dotted down off the back of a driving-maul as the West Midlanders pack proved too powerful in the left corner by the main stand.
Hartpury finally really started to put together some great attacking play in what sadly was to be one of the few moments they managed to put together phases successfully.
In their best period of the game, ‘pury’s forwards carried hard and Bazalgette dictated play succinctly with a variety of passing resulting in openside Short finding himself on the right wing and in space 15 metres out before calmly side-stepping the last man – ex-Hartpury fly-half Tommy Mathews - to canter over for his second try.
Neither side could take advantage of phases of dominance before half-time. Hartpury’s maul was held up after kicking to the corner before losing captain Will Crane on the 35th minute due to a back issue.
Hartpury were unlucky to be behind at half-time while the conditions worsened before Matthews re-started after the break with the skies opening and rain pouring down across the Spon End of the city.
Coventry fired the first shot of the second-half and scored in barely 180 seconds of the restart as scrum-half Sam Maunder’s put a chip over the top from a ruck down the left flank just inside Hartpury’s half, with winger Api Bavandra collecting the ball and racing in unopposed to reassert the home-side’s lead.
A kicking tussle with bouts of kick tennis took centre stage through the third-quarter, but the navy-and-white hoops seemed to gain the advantage.
Hartpury were living dangerously, fullback Isaac Marsh was pushed back over the red’s own whitewash before Short stopped an almost-certain score, but the Gloucestershire boys penalty count was racking up.
Coventry kicked to touch into the corner again, and another driving maul on the hour-mark saw hooker Poole dot down for the home-side’s try bonus point and his second of the day.
Hartpury finally got stuck in, won some of their own penalties and finally gained some territory. After making a mess of a lineout in the bottom left corner of the pitch, they reclaimed the ball, managed a few carries and prop burst Alex Gibson burst through Cov’s defence after an offload from the floor, and the tighthead charged over from seven metres out by the left post.
An uncharacteristic conversion miss from Bazalgette followed, and proved costly as despite having a quarter-of-an-hour left to play, Hartpury couldn’t score again.
Another spate of ‘pury ill-discipline allowed Mathews to extend his side’s lead with a penalty kick from 40-metres out on the 68th minute, while also putting the reds out of the losing bonus point window.
Hartpury rallied late on as they fought to get one or two league points, and a 13-man driving maul went close to the try line in the final minute but for being held up.
Stats:
|
Coventry RFC |
|
Hartpury RFC |
|
9 |
Penalties conceded |
12 |
|
9 |
Line-outs won |
8 |
|
0 |
Line-outs Lost |
3 |
|
3 |
Scrums won |
4 |
|
0 |
Scrums lost |
0 |
|
0 |
Sin-bins |
0 |
|
0 |
Red-cards |
0 |
Coventry RFC: Tom Bacon, David Opoku-Fordjour, Daffyd-Rhys Tiueti, Morgan Adderly-Jones, Api Bavandra (Ewan Baker 60), Tommy Mathews, Sam Maunder (Josh Barton 60); Aristot Benz-Salomon (Keston Lines 63), Jordan Poole (c) (Murray Davidson 63), Eliot Salt (Matt Johnson 54), Mackenzie Graham (Dan Green 54), Senitiki Nayalo, Allan Ferrie, Tom Ball, Morgan Strong
Not used: Jack Shine, Onisvoro Sukani Nayagi
Tries: Senitiki Nayalo 8, Jordan Poole 19, 59, Api Bavandra 44
Conversions: Tommy Matthews 9, 20, 45
Penalties: Tommy Matthews 68
Hartpury RFC: Isaac Marsh (Josh Fields), Brad Denty, Robert Smith, Oliver Allsopp, Ollie Holliday, Harry Bazalgette, Rhys Price (Cai Gealy 73); Archie McArthur (Louis Trevette 47), Will Crane (cc) (George Knowles 35), Alex Gibson (George Perry 68), Steele Barker, Jack Davies (cc), Cameron Cobbett (Peter Paramore 66), Harry Short (Ellis Hart 66), Tom Worts
Not used: Keir Clark
Tries: Harry Short 15, 25, Alex Gibson 65
Conversions: Harry Bazalgette 16, 26
Referee: Jonathan Cook (RFU)
Half-time score: 14 - 14
Star players: Tommy Mathews (Coventry RFC) / Harry Short (Hartpury RFC)
Attendance: 2,027
Reaction:
‘I thought we let it slip’, concludes Cornwell
By James Orpin, at Butts Park Arena
HARTPURY RFC head coach Mark Cornwell felt his side missed chances to earn a valuable victory, after seeing his side suffer a 31-19 defeat at Coventry.
A tight game in the West Midlands slipped through the reds hands, and with the side suffering two losses in a row for the first time this season they’ve slipped below the hosts to fifth in the Champ table.
A circumspect Cornwell said: “There was an opportunity to take the game; we let it slip just after half time and made a couple of silly errors. Fair play to Coventry in the end, for getting in our 22 area, they punished us a couple of times, and we didn’t have the composure to get back in the game.”
With discipline being a real issue after conceding 12 penalties, he said: “Without a doubt it proved costly, I said it at halftime. It’s uncharacteristic of us. We haven't usually been the ones given the penalties away.
“We've been really disciplined this season, but we didn’t continue that today. I know the energy levels have to be there and we have to be on the edge, but we tipped over the edge two or three times today, too many times, and 12 penalties is way too high.”
Despite coming away with no points, Hartpury had looked good when they managed to put phases together, and there were positives to take.
“I think we can score points. When we played, we played with some good shape, we scored a very good second try. We just didn't get a grip on the game like we have done in other games where we've been in control of the territory game”, Mark explained.
Hartpury co-captain Will Crane unfortunately left the fray on the 33rd minute due to a back injury, but felt the hosts dealt with the conditions better.
The hooker said: “Conditions were tough, there's a bit of wind, we got a little bit wet and to fair to Coventry and Tommy Mathews, they kicked really well, and put us under pressure in the right places.
“I think their game plan, their kicking game, was probably a little bit better than ours today and that was key.”
With Hartpury falling to fifth in the table, and the top six going through to the play-offs, it puts huge pressure on next Friday’s home game against Richmond if they want avoid slipping out of the play-off places.
Crane was also confident his back injury was just a spasm that won’t impact his involvement.
“It’s huge, we haven't got any points out of our last two games, so teams have caught up with us now, and we owe Richmond one for our Friday night loss earlier in the season.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a Friday night game at the 4ED. So yeah, it'll be good and I’ll be ready for it”, Crane added.
